Well, more like tales of life. But the greater part of my waking hours are about tech, hence this title.

Monday, March 21, 2005

Florida incident kinda sick

Played street hockey in Komazawa koen. Did not hurt myself too badly this time.

Been on the computer all the rest of the day.

That Florida child-abuction rape-murder incident was pretty creepy. I had seen the father on CNN a few weeks back, appealing to the nation to help search for his daughter. He was cautiously optimistic that she would be found.

2 comments:

I thought you were talking about the Terri Schiavo thing, which I'd also classify as "sick." I find it immensely disturbing that Congress is now basically overturning state court rulings based on no hearings, no evidence, no nothing other than what GOP Congress"people" think is a fantastic PR opportunity.

If you think that's being cynical, there is actually a leaked memo sent to GOP Congress"people" about what a remarkable opportunity this case provides. Not only is it disturbing that Congress has totally upset the balance of power, it's upsetting that this woman's supposed wishes, as the lower courts have found, are being worked *against*, and that the legal guardian's desires can essentially be arbitrarily overturned on a whim.

Bleah.

Don't get me wrong, I wish Terri Schiavo would recover as much as anyone else - but realistically, if I were in her position, I'd rather have been peacefully sent on my way decades ago. It's ... grotesque, what her parents, and Congress, has done to her, IMO, though I understand that many other people feel differently.

Looking at the video of her interacting with her mother I really felt it would be heartrending to kill this person. She smiles, she blinks, she is animated, she looks at people.

Even if there is nothing upstairs, she brings joy to her parents. Many people derive joy from their babies who can't talk, or their severely retarded older children. Or dogs and cats!

She might have in passing mentioned something to her husband about not wanting to be kept alive artificially. But she was young and probably did not expect that this was going to really happen one day. I wonder how she would have felt about being starved to death. And naturally, due to her youth, there was no living will or anything official, just the husband's word. Is that good enough for life-and-death matters?

I see nothing wrong in keeping her alive. It probably is not cruel to her. She seems to smile enough, so I imagine she is not in physical pain. She does not have the awareness now to "actively" want to live or die, so why not just let her live?

Still, I know what you mean, it is the law and has passed through court rulings. Maybe Congress has no business getting their fingers into this. And certainly I am with you in being suspicious Republican motives (and the memo you mention proves again that they will look for political opportunities even in the most depressing cases).

However I think the law needs to be given a closer look here. I just don't get it, what good will it do to end her life?